J & D Construction, Inc. • 800-279-6447 • http://www.jdconstinc.com
Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL September/October 2017 Issue
Along U.S. Highway 212 near Montevideo, MN, there’s a rather unusual-looking grain tank with rows of windows along its exterior. In fact, it’s not a grain storage tank at all but an office building – home to J&D Construction, Inc. The structure certainly is unique, and so is the company within its walls.
J&D Construction specializes in the design/build, and maintenance of grain elevators, feed mills, ethanol plants, and fertilizer plants. What makes the company different from other contractors is that it not only offers design, construction, and project management services, but also it provides structural fabrication and millwright services.
Aerial view of J&D Construction’s 30,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and warehouse with unique steel tank office. Photos courtesy of J&D Construction Co.
Grain Journal spoke recently with Sales Manager Scott Mitlyng to learn more about the company’s history and distinctive position in the grain industry.
Company History
J&D Construction opened its doors in 1980 with just two employees, previous owners Jerry Pauling and Doug Nelson. Today, the company has nearly 90 employees, a state-of-the art fabrication shop and paint booth, complete design and engineering department, project management, sales team, and fully stocked tool trailers to serve its customers.
“The company was founded in 1980 with Pauling and Nelson, who basically started from scratch with an old pickup truck and tools,” explains Mitlyng.
“They were both working for another millwright company that’s no longer around and decided they could do it better.”
In the beginning, the two-man team recognized that many grain elevators were in need of new equipment with improved design to increase its durability and longevity. Through renovating existing grain elevators, they gained the knowledge to design a better system and gradually began to hire more employees, Mitlyng says. As they gained more experience working with suppliers, the company developed more sophisticated systems and eventually brought engineering and fabrication services in-house, “which was uncommon in the industry and still is today,” he notes.
Services Offered
When it comes to serving the grain industry, J&D Construction has all the bases covered, including:
• Sales and estimating: conceptual design, cost estimating, and budget control.
• Design and engineering: equipment and facility layouts, 3D modeling, process flow, construction and fabrication drawings, and engineering services.
• Construction: structural steel, millwright, concrete foundations, bin erection, building erection.
• Project management: site supervision, schedule control, turnkey subcontractor management, safety review, cost control, and project startup equipment training.
• Fabrication shop: full welding, fabrication, and paint capabilities.
• Millwright: routine maintenance, remodeling, renovation, full repair, and 24-hour emergency breakdown service.
J&D Construction owners (from left): Jim Kleinhuizen, Todd Ricke, Jamie Pauling, and Scott Mitlyng.
According to Mitlyng, “we do a lot of storage expansion projects, greenfield projects, developing new sites for loading grain, and we build our own bulkweighers, screeners, and structural products.
“Also, we build our own temporary pile towers with built-in aeration systems for installing in grain bunkers. There aren’t too many people doing that either.”
With the industry’s current emphasis on safety, J&D also has been offering a self-closing safety gate on catwalks, which is a relatively new idea, Mitlyng says.
Keys to Success
Among the reasons J&D Construction has been doing business successfully for more than 37 years is its ability to service a variety of customers and maintain a high level of quality, as well as its long-term view of growth and customer relationships.
“It’s important for us to take care of customers from the smallest project – changing bearings, for instance – up to large greenfield sites. We’re one of the few companies that do both well. We do everything needed to take care of an elevator, essentially,” Mitlyng explains.
The reason J&D can take on such a wide variety of projects is because of its in-house fabrication and engineering, which Mitlyng says allows the company to maintain a very high level of quality.
Two J&D 50,000-bph gravity screeners under construction.
“A lot of people field-build or will have subcontracted products out to the fabrication shops. We keep that in-house, so we have a good grasp on the quality control, delivery, and cost.
“We’re able to get better quality products out of our shop that are bolted in place and painted properly rather than being built and kind of cobbled together, if you will.”
Mitlyng notes that many of the company’s customers have been with them since the early 1980s, and it doesn’t matter whether a customer is big or small – J&D will take care of everyone for the long haul.
1.5-million bushel temporary storage system with pile tower and built-in aeration system in Minden, NE.
Two 1.5-million bushel temporary storage systems for Central Farm Service in Randolph, MN.
105-foot diameter, 614,000-bushel steel storage tank (right) at Chancellor, SD constructed in 2016.
New grain facility in Labolt, SD featuring two 320,000-bushel steel tanks, 12-foot-x-28-foot receiving pit, and hopper bins.
